Pre-fabricated or freely fabricated?
The human need to dwell involves a form of feeling 'at home' in inhabiting, even for a short time, a place which we feel belongs to us and in which we belong. This feeling is fractured by displacement. First it…
Shelter for refugees arriving in Greece, 2015-17
Over one million refugees and migrants undertook the perilous journey into Europe from early 2015. At the start of this emergency the enormous number of arrivals on the Aegean islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos overwhelmed local municipality…
From drawing-board to Jungle
Our company learnt two things in particular from our first couple of experiences of dealing with shelter in displacement. Firstly, we became aware of the complications that exist around access to decent accommodation, making it inaccessible for much of the…
The diversity of data needed to drive design
The Better Shelter or the Refugee Housing Unit (RHU) is a joint project of Swedish social enterprise Better Shelter, UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and the IKEA Foundation. The project, initiated in 2010, was rolled out on a large scale…
Choice in shelter solutions in Somalia
The complex, inter-linked and multi-dimensional humanitarian challenges in Somalia require equally complex responses in order to be able to bolster the resilience of Somali people. The Somalia Shelter Cluster (SSC) and its partners have historically provided emergency assistance to newly…
From the Editors
All displaced people need some form of shelter, and circumstances dictate that in reality not much of it conforms to the typical picture of a tent or tarpaulin nor meets official standards. The types of shelter and settlement responses found,…
A camp redefined as part of the city
The La Linière settlement described here was over-crowded and made of wooden cabins. It was destroyed by a fire in April 2017 but remains a cause of controversy between the supportive mayor of the town and the central political authorities.…
Appropriating buildings to house refugees: Berlin Tempelhof
Tempelhof airport, built by the Nazis in the 1930s, is a protected monument in the centre of the German capital, Berlin. Its history, size and context have established it as a controversial and high-profile space for refugees. And for the…
Collective homemaking in transit
Activists and supporters in the Greek capital, Athens, have occupied vacant city buildings in solidarity with the thousands of refugees trapped in the country by border closures. They have transformed buildings into squats to house refugees, in resistance to the…
The impact of humanitarian shelter and settlements on child protection
Being a child living in a protracted refugee situation in an encampment in Eastern Africa means that geopolitics and international standards influence the way you sleep, the meals you eat, and the daily activities at your nursery school. Often long-term…